


lone climber, it's dangerous without a safety net

by kaumari



Series: time is the change from stardust to bones [9]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Introspection, they're best friends your honor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:48:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26717026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaumari/pseuds/kaumari
Summary: in which hajime reflects on oikawa and all the imperfections that make him up.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime & Oikawa Tooru
Series: time is the change from stardust to bones [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1889728
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	lone climber, it's dangerous without a safety net

The people around him are always saying Oikawa is extraordinary. Vice captain in his second year, captain in his third, infamous jump serve, best setter awards. Handsome face, wavy hair, sweet, caring. Respectable grades, teacher’s pet, high scores on tests, college prep. How does he carry it all? Doesn’t it get tiring, being perfect at everything? They would love to see him succeed and fail in equal measure—one shows he lives up to all their expectations, the other that he’s not more special than the rest of them.

Yes and no. It does get tiring, but Oikawa is far from perfect. Maybe Hajime is biased. Maybe it’s simply that he’s seen through the veneer that masks Oikawa from the rest of the world. He has an irritating habit of pretending to be the perfect boy he wishes he could be. And Hajime has an irritating habit of calling him out on it.

Think of it this way: Hajime isn’t obligated to keep Oikawa from throwing himself off the metaphorical cliff, but he would rather not watch his best friend paint his insides across the rocks below.

Or don’t think of it that way. It’s kind of morbid.

Oikawa is far from perfect, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t good, excellent, the undeniable best. Perfection is unattainable at best, a fantasy at worst, and Oikawa knows how to keep his head down. Keeps his head down a little too well, because he never sees how far he’s come. He’ll climb as high as his aching hands and burning feet will take him, every cut destined to become another scar added to a growing collection, and he’ll never look back because it won’t help him move forward. There’s truth to this, as much as Hajime hates to admit it.

But there’s a reason the past is a memory to be recalled. There’s a reason you don’t forget about it as soon as it’s over. And it’s Hajime's role to force Oikawa to take a break and look back at the path he’s taken. It represents progress, hard-earned and valiant. It represents growth from concrete and soil alike. Every notch in the path, every crumbling ledge, is a story of how far he’s come, and Hajime will be damned if he lets Oikawa forget that.

The breakdowns, the lapses in judgement, the failures—Hajime has been there for them all, never once straying from his captain’s side. It takes strength to be the beacon of your team, highlighting their talents and guiding their paths, and it takes just as much strength to allow someone to take over when you’ve dimmed.

Why is it that Iwaizumi Hajime found Oikawa Tooru, two jacks of all trades and masters of none? Why is it that Oikawa Tooru is a jack, despite carrying all the honor of a king? Hajime finds the answer in a torn boy, fighting to cling to the rock face he persists on climbing. He finds the answer in nudges of solidarity, a clap on the back. Oikawa is a jack because he has yet to discover where his kingdom lies.

Hajime is many things, and Oikawa’s best friend will always be first and foremost on that list. Wherever he ventures, wherever that endless climb takes him, Hajime is at his back, pushing and pulling him in equal measure. There’s times for unconditional support and times for tough love and times to screw Oikawa’s head on straight, and all of them are a delicate balance Hajime has fine-tuned over years and years of knowing this one person inside and out. And if Oikawa ever flags, ever tires, Hajime is there to share the burden of perfection that will never fade, but which becomes an approximation of Oikawa that’s more and more tangible every day.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/kaumaridevi) \+ [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/kaumaridevi)!


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